Lots of great and fascinating information from what appears to have been a fantastic event. Would be nice if all the information including attendees thoughts and comments relating to the evening and general discussion could be collated into some form of document in recognition of the event. If this was some way possible without disrupting the private integrity of the music that was heard then i am sure there may be interest to purchase it in some form or another with any proceeds going to MPT...whilst i know this may be difficult given the reluctance for this sort of thing it was just a thought as it would seem a shame to waste an opportunity not only to raise further funds but also release something noteworthy and of massive interest to longstanding fans.Glad everyone who attended had a special time and thanks for all your feedback it is really appreciated.Queen 2, NOTW, Live Killers, and Innuendo are some of my favorite albums even to this day so it has been a pleasure to listen to everyone's feedback.For me Innuendo was a massive return to form with some fantastic playing and vocals on an eclectic mix of songs so great to listen to the stories involved in the making.

Innuendo (the album) was basically recorded in four groups of sessions. The first in Montreux, then at Metropolis. Another at Montreux and then the final one at Metropolis. Though Justin said the routine carried on with another in Montreux, but these tracks became the ones that wound up on Made In Heaven. Noel said that after Freddie died, these tracks got heavily worked on at Metropolis, but that as far as he was aware, none of the original tracking with Freddie, was done there on these tracks.

I asked Justin if the running order on the Innuendo album in any way reflected the order in which the sessions took place. His reply was "Oh God, no!". One of the photos I took was of a nine track sequence all on one digital multi-track tape box, and I'll try and transcribe it shortly, so you can see how an early version of the album looked.

What is left of your dream?Just the words on your stone.A man who learnt how to teach,But forgot how to learn.

Kes wrote:One of the photos I took was of a nine track sequence all on one digital multi-track tape box, and I'll try and transcribe it shortly, so you can see how an early version of the album looked.

Hi Kes. Would you be willing to send me a PM with hq photo of those tape boxes/tracklists? I'm a bit crazy about this kind of stuff. Thanks in advance!

(1) Innuendo(2) I Can Live With You(3) Ride The Wild Wind(4) " " " "(5) All God's People(6) Show Must Go On(7) Headlong(8) Delilah(9) Hitman

There's other stuff next to the titles, I think they're time codes or index numbers, but aren't really readable on my photo. There's also a post-it note on the box which I think says "This tape - packing badly".

What is left of your dream?Just the words on your stone.A man who learnt how to teach,But forgot how to learn.

We were also told about automatic mixing signals on the tape, that when it was played back would remember what position things like faders were in when the mix was done, and so would re-create the mix you had decided on. Both Justin and Noel said that this function made life a lot easier than it was before, when you'd either have to try and remember the settings during a particular mix, or write them down in minute detail. They commented that David Richards seemed to love that side of things, writing the most minute details and the such like.

As was said previously, they both seemed to have the utmost respect for David.

Someone asked about what times of the day Freddie would come in and record. "Usually between about ten in the morning, and four in the afternoon!" was the answer. "At that time, he wasn't a long hours sort of guy". However, Brian would often come back in, and layer his guitars on, with just David and Noel there. At other times it would just be David and Noel, and they'd get on with a mix, which if they thought it was good enough, they'd present for playback to the band. The "Mad mix" of 'I'm Going Slightly Mad" was one such example, where David did an extreme mix of something, just to present an alternative slant to the band.

They mentioned that some of Brian's solos were done through a "Zoom" box (I think that's what they called it), which is a small thing that you could hang on your belt loop, and that would be DI'd (direct input) straight into the mixing desk.

The studio has three "recording rooms". To the right, the Stone room, where Roger's drums were set up. This has a sliding door between it and the main room, where Brian's gear, and the keyboards were set up. The room to the left, also screened from the main room, is where John's amp and speaker were set up, but they said that like Brian, he'd usually do the playing in the control room, and have leads running out to the rigs.

What is left of your dream?Just the words on your stone.A man who learnt how to teach,But forgot how to learn.

Coincidentally, I was watching a Lady Gaga documentary tonight called "Five foot two", and realised its not until you've been somewhere that you see something familiar. There was one bit of it shot in the control room in studio A at Metropolis, and it was instantly recognisable to me as being that.

Had I not been there at the weekend, it could have been anywhere as far as I was concerned.

What is left of your dream?Just the words on your stone.A man who learnt how to teach,But forgot how to learn.

Oh, another recollection of events. The middle section of Innuendo, the bit where Freddie sang "You can be anything you want to be...." with a piano, it was quite uptempo, compared with what we eventually got on the finished version.

How uptempo? Well, thinking back, it reminded me of the version of Football Fight on the Flash Gordon bonus EP.

What is left of your dream?Just the words on your stone.A man who learnt how to teach,But forgot how to learn.

Right, I'll try and flesh out and fill in the detail on a lot of what has already said.

Over half the time we spent in the control room was concentrated on the song Innuendo. We were played virtually all of the seven live takes that evolved into the first half of the song, and the last section of it, some with the talk back microphones turned up, some without. What amazed me, was that these were "live" takes, and the whole band were playing pretty much exactly what you hear on the record, minus only the lead vocals. Somewhere around take five, Brian played a bit that wasn't quite right, and suggested the rest of the band try it without him, so the bleed from his guitar didn't spoil the take, moving the song forward. Freddie said something like "No, carry on, it's getting there!" Brian then said something like "OK, I suppose I could always try and play it right."

The next take, #6, was later used to form the end section of the song, and take 7 the beginning. They then started overdubbing. The lyrics at this point, although similar to the final ones, were being made up and added "on the hoof", the first run through was with Roger doing a guide vocal, as I think he'd come up with most of the words, at that point. Now Roger's a good singer, but it highlighted to me quite how special Freddie's final vocal turned out to be.

The next bit we were treated to, was the components to the middle section, starting off with Brian on an acoustic guitar, doing the basics of the "wandering minstrel" section. We were told that as a sheer coincidence Steve Howe was in Montreux, and Brian had asked if he wanted to add some playing to the track. So the fiddly single note stuff you hear, is Steve Howe, with Brian shadowing him in the other channel. At one point either Brian didn't think a bit worked, or Steve dropped out, so Brian added a third part over the top. Then came the bit with Freddie doing the uptempo piano, which was then replaced with a synthesiser section built up and multitracked to sound like an orchestra. Somewhere during these proceedings, Brian did the electric guitar bit the mirrored the Spanish style acoustic bit. And laying Freddie's lead vocals on the top, you had the finished song. Took us 90 minutes to get there. As far as I'm aware, virtually everything we heard, was tracked at Mountain by David and Justin.

What is left of your dream?Just the words on your stone.A man who learnt how to teach,But forgot how to learn.

Being fair, a LOT of techie questions were being asked, and those that I tried to get in, were circled around key points that people had made on this board, not least of the contributors was Sebastian. I'm sure, had he been there, then the key questions would have been a bit deeper, and probing. So sorry for that, if there was something REALLY important that didn't get asked.

Obviously there were a few musicians in there, as people asked to hear isolated drum and bass tracks of things, but these were balanced with other people asking for the guitars to be stripped down, and lead and backing vocals too. Something I learnt was that most of the percussion you hear on TATDOOL are programmed. Like with Phil Collins and Genesis, it seems strange to me, when you have such a renowned percussionist in your band, that you'd use a machine instead of them.

What is left of your dream?Just the words on your stone.A man who learnt how to teach,But forgot how to learn.